Ickle Firsties
by knowregrets
Summary: Various first years receive their Hogwarts letter and get sorted. ABANDONED
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one: Introducing Susie 

Susie lived with her ordinary Mum and her ordinary Dad in an ordinary house in an ordinary town. There was nothing about her life that was at all odd. Except, of course, Susie herself. Everyone agreed. Susie was an odd child. She was quiet and shy, studious and polite. She never made much of a fuss about anything (Susie didn't like fuss). In her classes she would just sit there listening to the teacher, reading her schoolbooks, doing her class work, answering questions she was asked and generally behaving like a model student. She never asked awkward questions, she never asked any questions. She never bullied other children, she never reacted to being bullied, she'd just look at them with her enormous eyes, stare at them unblinking and unspeaking until they felt awkward and went away.

Her exam results were always just above average for whatever class she was in. Her end of term reports were always the same and the words her teachers most frequently used to describe her were "quiet and competent". She never got into any trouble, she never excelled. Her teachers found her vaguely irritating and unsettling but could never explain exactly why. They were always glad when she moved on at the end of the year, but always felt vaguely guilty for being glad.

As a baby Susie didn't talk. She'd experimented with talking when she was alone in bed at night and she felt it might be useful at some point but she thought about it and realised she didn't really have anything to say. She could usually get her message across without talking so what was really the point? Her parents were worried about her. All their friends' children started babbling away and even using real words well before Susie did. As a toddler Susie quiet liked going to see the nice man her worried parents took her to. He had toys in his office and would try to get her to talk – it became a game she was winning and he didn't even know he was playing.

One day, when Susie had just turned 2, her Uncle Pat came to visit with his baby Jamie. She was playing in the front room with Jamie when she became aware of a smell. Jamie needed changing. He wasn't uncomfortable enough to cry yet but he was certainly smelly. She toddled up to her uncle who was sat at the dining table with her mum and dad. She pulled on his trouser leg, pointing to the front room.

"I'll come and play in a minute Susiekins", she thought for a moment. That would be nice. Uncle Pat played good games. He crawled on the floor and let her ride him like a horse. And he chased her round the room pretending to be a cuddle monster. It was fun. But that wasn't exactly what she was asking so she tried again. "I said in a minute sweetheart!"

She thought about this and frowned slightly. She opened and shut her mouth a few times. It was almost like she was debating with herself. "Jamie's nappy needs changing." At that point she became the focus of quite a bit of adult attention. She didn't like it one bit. So she shut up. Again. After a while she figured out if she spoke occasionally and stayed quiet the rest of the time, she could more or less get along without too much of a fuss. Susie never liked fuss. She didn't like making it, she didn't like causing it, she didn't like being the centre of it and she didn't even like being in the same room as it.

As Susie grew older, Uncle Pat had three more children after Jamie but Susie's Mum and Dad just had Susie. Susie didn't mind. Babies were almost always at the centre of fuss. Either they were making a fuss or they were being fussed over. Susie usually left the room when that happened.

When she was nine, her parents moved to Fowey. Susie liked Fowey. She liked the sea. On windy days she would walk down to the heart of the town and curl up on a sheltered stone bench overlooking the harbour and just sit there. Watching the sea. Susie liked the autumn best. The stormy weather would cause waves to crash against the harbour walls blowing spray up high into the air.

Summer was good too, in different ways. First there was no school. Not that she particularly disliked school but no school meant she didn't have to talk to any other children and Susie didn't really like many other children. Well it was more that they didn't really like her actually. They didn't really dislike her either they just thought she was odd. When she first realised that other children thought her odd she had quite a long think about whether this should upset her. She'd come to the conclusion that they were probably right, she was odd so why be upset about it? But the other reason that summer was good was tourists. A lot of tourists came to visit Fowey and she could sit on her stone bench and watch them. It wasn't quite as good as watching the stormy sea but it was still interesting. Some of the tourists were a little disturbed by being stared at unblinkingly by an owl-faced girl but most didn't notice her.

This particular year, Susie was eleven. It was the end of primary school and summer holidays brought a strange kind of feeling. She had been on a trip to look at the local secondary school with the rest of her classmates but she hadn't much cared for it. She hadn't expected to. It was just the same sort of place but full of older and bigger children. And with more of them.

But the first week of the school holidays something odd happened. Susie was downstairs eating breakfast with her parents when an owl flew on to the windowsill. She stared at the owl unblinking and it stared right back at her. The doorbell rang.

"Ahh, post" said Susie's Dad as he jumped up from the table. "I've been waiting for that new book from the club!" Susie's Dad loved reading and got new books posted to him every month from a mail order book club. Susie stared at the owl while she heard her Dad chatting to the postman.

"There's a letter for you popkins!" Susie jumped. "Funny thing, it was on the doormat but the postman couldn't remember having dropped it. Her you go!" He passed her a thick envelope. Susie read the letter three times. Part of her thought it was some kind of elaborate joke but in another part, the part that she kept hidden even from herself something clicked. It felt right.

"Mum, Dad, it says I have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Her parents stopped stock-still and looked at each other silently for a moment. Then her Dad cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer 

I do not own the world in which this story is set: anything you recognise belongs to JKR. The only thing I own in the stories are the original characters.

Chapter two: Aigneis and Martin part one 

Martin's first memory was of sitting on the grass outside his home watching his sisters de-gnoming the garden. He remembered that a gnome popped out of a hole right next to him, he had been quite startled and dropped the stone he had been holding. Unfortunately the stone fell right onto the gnome's head. The gnome, understandingly, had taken offence to this and bitten him in his finger. His resulting screams had brought both his sisters running over. Marigold had grabbed the gnome and flung it a good distance into the nearby field while Marcie had cuddled him and made sure he was all right.

That had always been the way between the three of them while he was small. He was their baby; Marigold was the protector and Marcie the comforter. Martin's father had died a couple of months before he was born. His mother worked long hours and the babysitter was indifferent and didn't do a great deal other than making sure he was alive. Marigold and Marcie had been his whole world until he was four; that was when, to him, the worst thing possible could happen – Marcie and Marigold went to Hogwarts. He wept for three days straight after they left. It just wasn't **fair**. The twins came home at Christmas with stories galore. They were having a wonderful time. But he wasn't.

Martin's babysitter quit after that first Christmas because he was "depressing" her. In despair over what to do with him, his mother tried sending him to the local (Muggle) primary school. That didn't work. His very first day it went wrong. The first thing the class did was art and all they were all sorted into groups of 4 or 5 and sat around tables with lots of magazine pictures cut up. They were supposed to be making collages. Everything his mother had said that morning was going round his mind "Must not mention magic. Must not mention Muggles. Must pretend to be a Muggle." He was so scared about saying the wrong thing he didn't say anything for a while.

He reached for the glue. "New boys have to wait until everyone has finished before they can use the glue. It's the rule." The girl sitting next to him informed him smugly.

"But if I wait until everyone has finished I won't have time to do my picture." He pointed out reasonably.

"Sorry, but it's the rule, I can't do anything about the rule." She looked at him. The others at the table giggled. It wasn't the rule. He was sure it wasn't the rule, it couldn't be. It was unfair. But every time he reached for the glue one of the others would grab it out of his hand "It's the rule!" It was so stupid. The pictures weren't even moving, and a sticking charm on the paper would be better than the glue but he was fairly sure that asking the teacher for a sticking charm would come under the heading of mentioning magic.

Getting increasingly upset and angry Martin finally had enough. He grabbed the glue back from the girl next to him and squeezed the tube hard. His frustration caused him to accidentally enhance the speed the glue came out of the tube by magic. It squirted everywhere: all over the girl who started the teasing; all over the other children at the table and even all over the teacher (Mrs Fisher) who had come over to the table to investigate. The look on Mrs Fisher's face was very scary. "It was a accident." He whispered. "A accident."

"Corner. Now!" She pointed.

"But …" He started.

"NOW!"

He spent the rest of the morning crying in the corner. When the teacher let them out for break he ran as fast as he could. He ran all the way home and hid in the shed where his sisters kept their broomsticks. When he didn't come back in from break, Mrs Fisher got worried and questioned the class. Realising that none of them had seen him during break-time at all she contacted the headmistress. They searched the school thoroughly. For some reason they didn't actually know where exactly Martin and his mother lived.

By the time Martin's mother found him in the evening there was a full-scale hunt for him in the village. The fact that he was alive and well, completely unharmed and had, in fact, slept through much of the afternoon; was somewhat irritating to his worried teachers. It was suggested, firmly, to his mother that perhaps he wasn't "quite ready for" school. She thanked them for their concern and suggested that perhaps it was the school that wasn't "quite ready for" Martin and that it was hardly Martin's fault if that was the case. The conversation deteriorated from there.

The next few days she took Martin into her work with her. It was rather boring for him and she was worried that he needed children his own age. The final solution was found through a colleague at work – Zenerva Beritson. Zenerva worked mornings only and her husband worked the afternoon and evening shift managing security at the Ministry. They had two children and said they'd be happy to have Martin in with theirs all day so from then on he spent his days with his new friends Lachlann and Aigneis. It was quite a good arrangement. Every morning Martin would floo over to the Beritson house. Mr Beritson taught them in the morning, while Mrs Beritson was at work. She came home in the afternoon and looked after them while they played.

Lachlann and Aigneis didn't look much alike. Lachlann, despite being a year younger than the other two, was the tallest of the trio and had green eyes, freckles and flaming red hair that stuck out from his head at all angles. Aigneis was short with pale skin, deep blue eyes and dark brown, almost black, hair. She was definitely the brains of the trio – though brains is probably the wrong word. Boss would probably be the better way to describe it. Over the next few years the three of them caused chaos at every possible opportunity. They never meant to though, it was never the plan, chaos just sort of happened around them.

The mornings were generally calm. Aigneis was not a morning person and the three of them were usually kept fairly busy in lessons until lunchtime. After lunch was a different matter. If the weather was fine the three of them usually played outside, if it wasn't they were confined to the house. That was usually when the real trouble would occur.

There was the time Mrs Beritson heard a huge crash from the study and rushed in to find the study table had fallen over and the three of them in the middle of the room covered in ink and surrounded by books. The explanation that they had been playing caves under the table and it just fell was not accepted. Then there was the time they were playing Quidditch on their toy broomsticks in the kitchen and only discovered after they had broken 26 glasses. Or the time they accidentally enchanted Aigneis' dolls to become alive and left them in the playroom. The dolls had been rather upset about this and had virtually destroyed the playroom and it's contents looking for the three children. By the time Aigneis and Martin were nine and Lachlann eight, whenever it was raining Mrs Beritson made them carry on with lessons right through the afternoon and right where she could keep her eye on them.

A/N 

Apologies the pre-letter Aigneis and Martin section has had to be split over two chapters.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N_

_I've finally updated this story with chapter three. Thank you to lostsoullonelyheart for giving me my second encouraging review, which gave me the impetus to update this story that no one seemed to be reading!_

**Chapter three: Susie's List**

Susie sat on her bed, holding her letter and staring into space. Her mind was reeling from all the new discoveries and she wasn't quite sure how to process them. Maybe it would help if she made a list? Her mother was always making lists and found them quite useful. Susie had never really understood why, but now things seemed to be so complicated, perhaps a list was the only way.

She sat at her desk and began.

1 I am a witch.

That was kind of good actually. Everyone had always thought she was odd and if she was a witch it made sense that she'd be odd. She'd be able to cast spells, and fly on a broomstick and eat children. Well maybe not the last one. That was what bad witches did and Susie didn't think she was a bad witch. Good witches gave wishes and sent people to balls. That would probably be better than eating children. Or was that fairies with the balls thing? Or Fairy Godmothers? She thought it was Fairy Godmothers actually. So what was it that good witches did? The only good witch she could think of at that moment was the good witch in the Wizard of Oz and she couldn't remember her doing anything much but being nice.

2 There is a school for witches and wizards called Hogwarts and they want me to go there.

That wasn't something she had ever heard about but she supposed it made sense. After all magic probably had to be learnt the same way maths did. Although it was probably a bit more interesting than maths. Maths, in Susie's opinion, was easy but very dull. Spells were likely to be far more interesting. She could learn how to make things fly or turn people into toads or something. Did she want to turn anyone into a toad? Well actually there were some people who would probably benefit from a little bit of toad time. Like Maria Cooper. Maria Cooper would make a good toad. Certainly she had to make a better toad than she did a girl because she wasn't a very nice girl at all.

3 Both Mum and Dad had sisters who were witches but aren't any more because they are dead.

That deserved thinking about more. Two aunts that she had never heard about: Aunt Jane and Aunt Frances. She supposed she should feel sad that they were dead but she hadn't ever heard of them until half an hour ago so it was a little difficult. Two aunts who were witches. Like her. But dead. Until this morning Susie only had one Aunt. Her name was Aunt Ella and she was Uncle Pat's wife. Now she had two more aunts. Only they were dead. It was a little sad that they were dead because it would have been very useful if they weren't because then she could have asked them what good witches did. That's if they were good witches. She supposed they must have been because:

4 Aunt Jane and Aunt Frances met at Hogwarts and became best friends, they introduced Mum and Dad and that's how they got married.

Well that's how Mum and Dad got married, not Aunt Jane and Aunt Frances. She didn't think Aunt Jane and Aunt Frances were married because Mum and Dad would have said something if they were. Did witches get married? Well actually, Susie decided, she wasn't really interested because she didn't really want to get married at all. Most boys were stupid and they thought her strange.

5 A witch or wizard was coming to the house on Tuesday to talk to her family about what it meant that she was a witch.

That was exciting really. A real-life witch or wizard. She could ask them what good witches did because they didn't eat children and whether she would be able to turn Maria Cooper into a toad and whether witches got married. Actually it wouldn't be a bad idea to write down all those questions so that she didn't forget to ask them when the real-life witch or wizard turned up. She took another sheet of paper and began a new list. This time it was a list of questions.

1 What do good witches do?

* * *

Tuesday morning arrived very slowly. It seemed to be two or three weeks worth of waiting in Susie's mind before it actually came round. Time, Susie had observed, did that sometimes. She was very excited when Tuesday finally arrived. She dressed nicely, making sure her jeans didn't have any holes and her t-shirt didn't have any stains on it. She sat down at the dining table with her list to wait. She tried to wait patiently, really she did but she must have been fidgeting because her mother said "Oh for goodness sake Susie, go and do something while you are waiting! They aren't due until 11 and it is only 9.30. You are driving me round the bend!"

So Susie went up to her room and waited instead.

Finally, 11.00 came around and the doorbell rang. Susie raced down the stairs and collided with her mother just has she was opening the door. Both of them landed, in a heap, on top of a short man with long brown hair and an emerald green cloak. Susie's mother apologised as she helped the man to his feet "She has been very excited." She said by way of explanation.

"Not at all, don't worry. Of course she has been excited." Said the man kindly as he brushed the dirt of his cloak. "Only natural."

Susie was very embarrassed. Her first real wizard and she knocked him over in the drive. She mumbled an apology looking at the floor. Her mother invited the wizard in and introduced herself and Susie's Dad. The wizard introduced himself as Marvin Bigglesworth "And I take it this is our newest witch, Susan!" He said with a smile.

"Susie." Said Susie. "Everyone calls me Susie."

"Then so shall I!" Said Mr Bigglesworth. "Now, I expect you all have a lot of questions." He started. Questions – Susie had left her list upstairs! With a look of horror on her face she ran upstairs to her bedroom to grab it, then raced back downstairs holding the dog-eared piece of paper as if it was precious.

"So you see," her mother was saying as her father poured Mr Bigglesworth some tea, "we were both aware of the wizarding world to a certain extent before Susie's letter."

"Ah, I'd wondered." He said. "Most Muggle families are less believing at first than you were."

"Indeed!" Said Susie's father. "I remember my parents reaction when Frankie got her letter."

"Frankie?" Said Mr Bigglesworth. "You are Frances Fisher's brother?" Susie's Dad nodded. "Why my dear chap, I knew Frances well!" Mr Bigglesworth continued, "Such a tragedy. She is still very much missed you know."

"By me too." Said Susie's Dad sadly.

"But that must mean" said Mr Bigglesworth, "not Jane Richards' sister?" He turned to Susie's mother.

"Yes, Jane was my sister."

"Oh my goodness. Well it isn't surprising that this young lady" he looked at Susie kindly, "has turned out magical. Not surprising at all."

Susie was getting a little impatient, truth be told. After all Mr Bigglesworth was here to see her and she did have lots of questions she wanted answered.

"No I can't say we were very shocked." Said Susie's father fondly. "Susie has never been, what you might call, typical." The three adults shared a laugh. Now this was too much. Susie had lot's of questions to ask and it was her that they were talking about after all!

"What is that you have there young lady?" Asked Mr Bigglesworth kindly.

"My list."

"Your list?"

"I have some questions."

"Of course you do. So why don't you ask them and I'll do my very best to answer."

"Thank you Mr Bigglesworth. Question number one," Susie started, "what do good witches do? In the stories where there are bad witches they eat children but I don't want to be a bad witch, I want to be a good witch so please sir what do good witches do?"

"Well," said Mr Bigglesworth, "good witches do all sorts of things. For example …"


End file.
